Faux News article: how to engage your non-religious family members - Atheist Nexus2017-12-14T02:27:20Zhttp://atheistnexus.org/forum/topics/faux-news-article-how-to-engage-your-non-religious-family-members?commentId=2182797%3AComment%3A2125085&xg_source=activity&feed=yes&xn_auth=no1. Ask about a spiritual expe…tag:atheistnexus.org,2012-12-19:2182797:Comment:21255572012-12-19T03:39:24.928ZHumble Piehttp://atheistnexus.org/profile/HumblePie
<p><b>1. Ask about a spiritual experience that has shaped their life.</b></p>
<p>I grew up in a church heavily engaged in the teaching of "prophecy", including both that found in the Bible and some homebrew prophecy god-given especially for us back in the 1800s. In 11th grade, I was told that while we understood all other prophecy, Daniel chapter 11 wasn't something God had seen fit to reveal to us yet. That didn't sit well with me, so I looked it up on my own. It turns out, the mainline…</p>
<p><b>1. Ask about a spiritual experience that has shaped their life.</b></p>
<p>I grew up in a church heavily engaged in the teaching of "prophecy", including both that found in the Bible and some homebrew prophecy god-given especially for us back in the 1800s. In 11th grade, I was told that while we understood all other prophecy, Daniel chapter 11 wasn't something God had seen fit to reveal to us yet. That didn't sit well with me, so I looked it up on my own. It turns out, the mainline Protestant churches had no trouble deciphering it at all. It just so happens that it was a false prophecy. For me, that was when I really stopped believing in the church I grew up in.</p>
<p><br/><b>2. Engage in conversation about the importance of love and compassion.</b><br/><span>I've never been loved so purely and so unconditionally as by the young woman I am with right now. All my life it was always, "He's such a good boy. He loves Jesus so much!" It's almost like I myself wasn't even on the radar. It's so refreshing to be loved for me!</span><br/><br/><b>3. Express your own doubts or questions about religion.</b><br/>My mother has more doubts than me, I am quite certain, and I am an out-and-out Atheist. She's been repressing them for so long. It would do her a world of good to give them a fair airing out.<br/><br/><b>4. Invite a conversation about how spiritual values shape your respective lives. <br/></b>I believe that people can choose to be good. Not that they are good, or evil, intrinsically, but that we are a moral animal. That is inspiring to me. Or, perhaps this counts as a better spiritual value: Life has the meaning we give it. Some people say that's no meaning at all, and who am I to argue with them? Maybe they haven't given their lives any meaning. But mine has meaning because it has meaning to me, and to the people I love and live with and care for, and cohabitate with on this Spaceship Earth. I want to do everything I can to make that a positive meaning not only for myself, but for them, too, and I think the very first thing I can do towards that end is to abandon all of this silly religion business.</p> I very much see myself in tha…tag:atheistnexus.org,2012-12-19:2182797:Comment:21255002012-12-19T03:28:55.710ZHumble Piehttp://atheistnexus.org/profile/HumblePie
<p>I very much see myself in that statement.</p>
<p>I very much see myself in that statement.</p> Like non-thinking people need…tag:atheistnexus.org,2012-12-18:2182797:Comment:21248072012-12-18T09:43:29.254ZJames Kzhttp://atheistnexus.org/profile/JamesKz
<p>Like non-thinking people need a reason, either. Why aren't they off the air yet? Didn't the Leavenson enquiry in Britain find that News Corp. was engaging in corrupt practices? Didn't they jail Rebecca Brookes? Didn't they shut down <em>News of the World</em>, and even the head of Dow Jones resigned (as he'd been an editor of the <em>Wall Street Journal</em><em>?</em></p>
<p>What happened to our Foreign Corrupt Practices Act? Why isn't Rupie in court here?</p>
<p>Like non-thinking people need a reason, either. Why aren't they off the air yet? Didn't the Leavenson enquiry in Britain find that News Corp. was engaging in corrupt practices? Didn't they jail Rebecca Brookes? Didn't they shut down <em>News of the World</em>, and even the head of Dow Jones resigned (as he'd been an editor of the <em>Wall Street Journal</em><em>?</em></p>
<p>What happened to our Foreign Corrupt Practices Act? Why isn't Rupie in court here?</p> Like thinking people need ano…tag:atheistnexus.org,2012-12-18:2182797:Comment:21249592012-12-18T05:38:28.724ZLizhttp://atheistnexus.org/profile/ElizabethALombardo
<p>Like thinking people need another reason to hate them, lol.</p>
<p>Like thinking people need another reason to hate them, lol.</p> Correct me if I'm wrong here…tag:atheistnexus.org,2012-12-18:2182797:Comment:21250372012-12-18T05:37:25.531ZLizhttp://atheistnexus.org/profile/ElizabethALombardo
<p><strong>Correct me if I'm wrong here but doesn't the article boil down to "Religion is the ultimate truth and we need to badger and manipulate family members until they see the light."?</strong></p>
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<p><strong>Correct me if I'm wrong here but doesn't the article boil down to "Religion is the ultimate truth and we need to badger and manipulate family members until they see the light."?</strong></p>
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<p></p> Correct Bud - I rejected thei…tag:atheistnexus.org,2012-12-17:2182797:Comment:21242172012-12-17T12:14:50.048ZSteph S.http://atheistnexus.org/profile/StephS
<p>Correct Bud - I rejected their religion.</p>
<p>Correct Bud - I rejected their religion.</p> Wonderful written Loren.tag:atheistnexus.org,2012-12-17:2182797:Comment:21243422012-12-17T12:14:15.454ZSteph S.http://atheistnexus.org/profile/StephS
<p>Wonderful written Loren.</p>
<p>Wonderful written Loren.</p> James - exactly - well stated.tag:atheistnexus.org,2012-12-17:2182797:Comment:21241182012-12-17T12:14:01.616ZSteph S.http://atheistnexus.org/profile/StephS
<p>James - exactly - well stated.</p>
<p>James - exactly - well stated.</p> Oh yuck - terrible. Another r…tag:atheistnexus.org,2012-12-17:2182797:Comment:21242142012-12-17T12:13:14.776ZSteph S.http://atheistnexus.org/profile/StephS
<p>Oh yuck - terrible. Another reason to dislike Fox News.</p>
<p>Oh yuck - terrible. Another reason to dislike Fox News.</p> Loren did it, so I will too.…tag:atheistnexus.org,2012-12-17:2182797:Comment:21240992012-12-17T08:33:16.030ZJames Kzhttp://atheistnexus.org/profile/JamesKz
<p>Loren did it, so I will too.</p>
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<p><b>1. Ask about a spiritual experience that has shaped their life.</b><br></br>I had pickets at my home and death threats aimed at my baby son and ex-wife for running a Wiccan and free-thinking computer bulletin board in Virginia Beach. They were all spiritually-motivated.<br></br><br></br><b>2. Engage in conversation about the importance of love and compassion.</b><br></br>Because as an atheist I could not possibly love my mother, my son, nor my wife. Nor can I…</p>
<p>Loren did it, so I will too.</p>
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<p><b>1. Ask about a spiritual experience that has shaped their life.</b><br/>I had pickets at my home and death threats aimed at my baby son and ex-wife for running a Wiccan and free-thinking computer bulletin board in Virginia Beach. They were all spiritually-motivated.<br/><br/><b>2. Engage in conversation about the importance of love and compassion.</b><br/>Because as an atheist I could not possibly love my mother, my son, nor my wife. Nor can I be compassionate toward others. And because the purpose of family gatherings is proselytisation, not love and compassion. Next.<br/><br/><b>3. Express your own doubts or questions about religion.</b><br/>If you have doubts about your religious faith, then you do not believe. There is no middle ground. You either believe, or you do not, and you are only atheistic about one less god than me.<br/><br/><b>4. Invite a conversation about how spiritual values shape your respective lives. </b><br/>Spirits cannot be demonstrated to exist, other than liquor. Things that cannot be demonstrated to exist I do not allow to shape my life if I recognise the fact. On the other hand, you as a religious person are motivated by alleged spiritual values which cannot be demonstrated to exist. Faith is not a virtue. It is abject belief in the unfounded. It is the realm of the unthinking, and what allows sheep to be led, by a good shepherd, to slaughter.</p>